It is #FrancophonieMonth and this is the story of the Franco-Manitobans!
The first French speakers arrived in what is now Manitoba in 1660 when fur traders reached the area.
Settlement of the area by Francophones did not occur until the 1730s though.
🧵1/5
Pierre Gaultier de Varennes was the 1st to establish a presence in southern Manitoba with Fort St. Charles in 1732. From that year until 1741, he established seven forts in Manitoba.
As fur traders arrived, they married Indigenous women, creating the Metis people.
🧵2/5
In 1871, there were 5,500 Francophones in Manitoba, making up half of the population of the province.
Within 10 years, they were a minority as English settlers from Ontario moved in.
In 1890, the provincial government removed the linguistic rights of Francophones.
🧵3/5
That year, English became the sole official language of the province, including in schools.
In 1896, a compromise was reached to allow French instruction at schools.
Then, in 1916, the province banned any language but English for school instruction.
🧵4/5
French instruction was not re-introduced to schools until 1955.
In 1970, French was reestablished as an official language for education.
In 2016, the Francophone Community Enhancement and Support Act was passed, signaling Francophone linguistic acceptance in Manitoba.
🧵5/5
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
For many Canadians, when they are not feeling well, Canada Dry Ginger Ale is part of the recovery and always within arm's reach.
But who created Canada Dry, why does it have a crown, and why is it called "Canada Dry"?
This is the story of the ginger beverage!
🧵1/9
The story of Canada Dry begins with John J. McLaughlin, a pharmacist from Enniskillen, Ontario. He was the son of Robert McLaughlin, founder of the McLaughlin Carriage and McLaughlin Motor Car.
In 1890, John was working at a soda factory in Brooklyn, New York.
🧵2/9
He left the factory to open his own carbonated water plant in Toronto.
In 1904, he created Canada Dry Pale Ginger Ale. The drink was immediately popular and in 1907 the drink was appointed to the Viceregal Household of the Governor General of Canada.
On this day in 1992, David Milgaard was released from prison.
He spent over two decades imprisoned for a crime he did not commit. His mother Joyce never gave up on him and fought for his release.
This is the story of the man who inspired the song Wheat Kings.
🧵1/18
David Milgaard was born on July 7, 1952 in Winnipeg.
In January 1969, he was in Saskatoon with his friends Ron Wilson and Nichol John on a trip across Canada.
While visiting their friend Albert Cadrain, 20-year-old nursing student Gail Miller was found dead nearby.
🧵2/18
The assault and murder of Miller generated a lot of attention in the media. Police questioned sex offenders in the area but had no leads.
A month after the murder, Cadrain went to police and told them Milgaard was acting suspicious on the drive to Calgary.
On this day in 2022, Mike Bossy died.
Among his many accomplishments, his 0.76 Goals-Per-Game Average remains a record to this day.
He is considered by some to be the greatest natural goal scorer in NHL history.
This is the story of Mike Bossy.
🧵1/16
Mike Bossy was born in Montreal on Jan. 22, 1957, the fifth son in a family of ten children.
As a child, he had a backyard rink he practiced on. In 1969, he played in the Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament, and then joined Laval National of the QMJHL.
🧵2/16
In five seasons, he scored 309 goals and 562 points in 264 games with Laval, but was called "not rugged enough" and defensively weak by scouts.
In the 1977 NHL Draft, 12 teams passed him over. The Rangers and Maple Leafs passed on him twice.
On this day in 1980, Terry Fox dipped his leg into the Atlantic Ocean at St. John's to begin his run across Canada.
This is the story of the Marathon of Hope.
In March 1977, Terry Fox was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a cancer that starts near the knees. The day before his leg was amputated, he read about the first amputee to complete the New York City Marathon and he became inspired.
📸Simon Fraser University
🧵2/20
After 14 months of training, which involved running every day for 101 days, he competed in a 27-km marathon in Prince George.
On April 12, 1980, after months of preparation, Terry dipped his leg into the ocean and filled two bottles with ocean water.
During this week in 1815, eruptions began at Mount Tambora in Indonesia.
It culminated in the most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded human history that lowered global temperatures in 1816.
This is the story of Canada's Year Without A Summer
🧵1/12
After days of eruptions, Mount Tambora erupted with a volcanic explosivity index of 7.
The 37-45 sq-km of dense-rock equivalent material was thrown into the atmosphere and spread around the world.
This cooled global temperatures by .53 degrees Celsius.
🧵2/12
Through the winter of 1815-16, things seemed normal in Canada.
By the time spring was supposed to arrive, residents of present-day Quebec and Ontario began to notice winter was not leaving.
Three to four feet of snow existed still in late-April.
Throughout the federal election campaign, I am looking at elections from Canada's past.
Today, it is the 1917 election, or Khaki Election.
This was one of the most divisive and bitter elections in Canadian history, which reshaped Canadian politics for decades to come.
🧵1/14
Three years after the last election in 1911, the First World War began.
Sir Robert Borden was still Prime Minister and leader of the Conservatives.
The six year gap between the 1911 and 1917 election is the longest election gap in Canadian history.
🧵2/14
In 1916, due to the First World War, Parliament agreed to suspend an election for one year.
Borden hoped that the delay would allow him to form a coalition government of all the parties as he attempted to put through conscription.